September 24, 2008

I currently have two things taking up all my free time. The first is this:Sorry the picture turned out so dark. The colors are very bright and cheerful so the picture doesn’t do it justice. It’s very large and I’m hand quilting it so it will be awhile before it’s done. I can’t wait to take a better picture for you to see just how “happy” it looks.

The second is this: I’m not quite finished with it but I have to say I am so blown away! The things people will do in the name of religion. I am going to save all my thoughts and opinions until I am totally done reading so stay tuned lol.

Today was my birthday. Also my hubby’s birthday but he’s only 39 so this was “the big one” for me. LOL! Why does everyone get so freaked about 40? It’s just a number, much like age is only a state of mind and in my mind I still feel young. I would hate to be in my 20’s again. I feel like I didn’t blossom until my mid 30’s. Does that sound silly? Does this mean now that I am officially 40 that I have to grow up?

I read an article the other day that said studies have shown the older you are, the happier you are in general with your life. I totally agree with that. It stated that older people found joy in the simpler things in life. Now I know they were referring to people in the late 60’s but I can relate that to my life. I get so excited to see a rose bloom on my rose bush or have a dove build a nest and hatch her eggs on my patio. My husband will call me to the window to see a beautiful red bird playing in our yard and that makes me smile like a loon lol.

I love my life! I am happy with what I’ve learned in 40 years and I look forward to 40 more.

September 16, 2008

I think I mentioned some time ago about possibly selling our house. That’s still the working plan and part of that plan is going to include putting new carpet in my bedroom, Holly’s bedroom and Haley’s bedroom. This means that between later this afternoon and first thing in the morning, all the furniture has to be removed from those rooms, the quarter round trim taken up and then remove the carpet. Our carpet installers should be here in the morning and I know from the past 3 jobs he’s done for us that in the morning means by 8 at the latest. He’s an awesome guy and comes when he says he will. If you’ve ever had to wait for any kind of contractor or laborer come to your home, you will appreciate how very rarely that happens.

So where do you put three complete rooms of furniture in a house that is already full? Stay tuned and when we figure it out, we’ll let you know.

September 10, 2008

I want to start by saying that I am extremely thankful that I have health insurance. I remember the early days when the girls were little and we didn’t have it for a time so I know how that feels and I don’t take having it for granted. So while I am thankful to have it, I get very frustrated at the system and it’s not easy to place blame. Do I blame the Dr.’s for the outrageous price of health care, do I blame the insurance companies for the run around they give trying to get out of paying, do I blame the lawyers who file the friviolous lawsuits that drive those costs up or do I blame office workers who have defrauded the insurance companies out of millions? Are we all sharing this blame? In one way or another, we are all paying for it.

Here’s my rant this morning. My oldest daughter is required to have a physical to participate in drill team. The school offers this one day a year for free but rather than stand in the hot gym for a few hours, I decide that it’s worth my copay of $15 to just go in to the Dr’s office. Thankfully since I have insurance, that’s all I have to pay and that’s worth it to me.

I got the statement from my insurance company yesterday and couldn’t believe my eyes. I assume a physical for school would be billed the same as a regular office visit. I think that runs about $65 in my Dr’s office. They don’t do any blood work or any other type of lab screening. Basically, he asks her some questions about rapid breathing or heart beat, makes her bend down and touch her toes a couple of times and feels around on her abdomen. Pretty basic stuff, right? It’s actually less time with her than if she were sick. Don’t get me wrong, I like our doctor so this rant isn’t about him personally. Just imagine my surprise when I see that this visit is actually $170!!!! After the “discount” given because he is a participating provider, his office billed my insurance $95 and then I made the $15 copay. Isn’t that insane??????

Like most issues, I know what the problem is, I’m just clueless as to how to go about fixing it. Apparently so do those in charge because the problem isn’t getting better, it’s getting worse. We’ve been very blessed to not have had anything very serious come up health related but the few trips we’ve made to the emergency room have usually resulted in lots of correspondence with the insurance company, convincing them to pay what they owe. Several years ago my oldest daughter was turning cartwheels on the front lawn and landed on her elbow which resulted in an ER trip. I had to write in detail what exactly happened and where before they would pay. Of course they were hoping that this happened on someone else’s property so they could sue the homeowner’s insurance for payment but in the end, they had to pay. It’s all about passing the buck with insurance companies these days. I think most people don’t want to sue others but sometimes our own insurance companies give us no choice.

And that’s my rant for the day, done without a Diet Coke no less! Off to the kitchen to crack one open and get this day started right! 🙂

September 9, 2008

I found out last Friday, officially, that my two little guys, J and K, would not be returning to my daycare. They’ve been gone for 5 weeks and I’ve been waiting, hoping that Mom would get a job and my little sweeties would come back to me. As it turns out, she’s going to stay home with them. I know this is good news for their family and we are happy for them but we miss J and K very much. I’m the only baby sitter each of them has ever had. J came when he was 4 months old and K came when she was 6 weeks so they are very much a part of our family. Unfortunately, that’s how my business goes sometimes.

On the upside, I had a new little guy start today. I have had his older brother since he was 4 months (he’s now 2 1/2) and the only reason why I didn’t get new baby was because I didn’t have an opening for him. So thankfully I had at least one lined up to fill my empty spots and his Mom and Dad are happy they don’t have to drop off and pick up at two different places everyday 🙂 His family is a good fit for my family so this is a blessing for me and I’m thankful. Today went very smoothly and hello…….who doesn’t love a 6 week old baby???? Someone new for me to love.

I haven’t been able to work on my quilt in at least a week so I’m in withdrawal. Hopefully we will get this whole buying/selling house business worked out and can stop being in limbo and have a plan to move forward. I know, I know, it’s been less than a week already but I’m not good with waiting and wondering.

September 5, 2008

Hubby and I are contemplating putting our house on the market and buying a new (or newer) one. Of course this is very stressful so as always, I throw a few words to the man upstairs asking for a sign to show me that we are on the right path. I’m a big believer in signs, but here’s my dilemma…..

-the first house we looked at was located on Lilly St. I’ve always said that if I ever had another daughter I would name her Lily. Once we decided that we weren’t having any more kids, I was going to name my dog Lucy, Lily, but didn’t because I have hope that if I have a granddaughter I can convince my daughter’s to give her that name.

-I found a floor plan to a house I was interested in seeing so I called the builder to see if he had one built that we could go look at. The plan number was 1820, the last four digits of my phone number.

-I’m going to look at one this morning and the address is 107. Also the address of the first house we moved into.

LOL…..at this rate, how am I going to know which house is the perfect one for us when they all have some kind of sign being shown to me??

September 1, 2008

2. Have you ever smoked? I tried it twice when I was 13 and found it to be the most disgusting thing ever.

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3. Do you own a gun? Hubby does.

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4. What flavour Kool Aid was your favourite? None, I don’t like Kool-Aid

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5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Yes, I don’t like going to the Dr.

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6. What do you think of hot dogs? I try NOT to think about them, just eat them.

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7. Favourite Christmas movie? Hmmm….don’t have a favorite.

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8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Diet Coke 🙂

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9. Can you do push ups? Maybe a couple lol.

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10. What’s your favourite piece of jewellery? My wedding ring.

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11. Favourite hobby? Reading, quilting, blogging

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12. Do you have A.D.D.? I don’t think so but the older I get, the harder it is for me to stay on task lol.

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13. Do you wear glasses/contacts? Yes, both.

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14. Middle names? Kay

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15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment? Time just went off telling me computer time is over, I need to go get my daughter’s sheets off her bed to wash and wondering how long I should set the timer for quilting time so not to piddle the day away doing only that lol.

August 31, 2008

I don’t claim to be a perfect parent by any means. I know we all have those less than stellar parenting moments that you hope no one witnesses but I want to share with you the most pitiful experience I witnessed on Friday night.

At the football game Friday night, a family/group of people sat down a few rows ahead of us. There was a Dad, Mom, two female friends and two small little boys, 4ish and 6ish. In case you didn’t already know, football games are boring to kids (and some adults, ahem). They don’t get what’s going on and it’s two and half hours of trying to entertain yourself. These parents/adults wanted their kids to sit still and look straight ahead. Yeah, right. They never talked to these boys except to make mean faces and repeatedly say, “no, stop, don’t, or I’m about to get you” and usually a smack on the leg went along with that. They didn’t try to engage these kids, entertain them, play with them, nothing. The younger boy had a small stuffed animal that he was playing with and was tossing it down a couple of rows, walking down to get it, then tossing it back up to the original spot. He wasn’t bother anyone, wasn’t getting in anyone’s way or anything. Mean face Daddy takes notice, got up, snatched the toy up, never saying a word to the boy but making a very stern face at him and then keeps the stuffed animal. You should have seen the little boy’s face fall. It was so sad.

The whole scenario just made me sad for those boys. I’m not kidding when I say that those adults never once spoke to those kids except to get on to them. They certainly never smiled at them or were kind to them in anyway. They gave no indication in the two and half hours that I was behind them that those kids were anything to them but an annoyance. As I said before, I know we all have moments that we hope no one witnesses but my goodness, I would hate for someone to watch me for two and half hours and wonder why I even had kids! There was a small group of pre teen boys sitting behind this man and apparently they were being too loud and he makes a big show of turning all the way around and giving them a very menacing look. At this point I really just wanted to push him all the way down to the bottom of the bleachers! I know, not very neighborly of me, is it? The sad thing is, in a few years (if not already) those boys will feel the same way about their Dad that I did. What else is he teaching them? It breaks my heart to think about it.

August 30, 2008

The quilt for my neice’s baby is done, and what a coincidence, he was born last Thursday! Technically the quilt was finished last Thursday too but I didn’t upload the pictures until just now. Just now, as in I should be cooking dinner but instead, I was uploading pictures and writing this post. What to do with me?

This was the result of a few pairs of my husband’s khaki shorts, a plaid shirt, a khaki shirt and a pair of my old cords. I was pleased with how it turned out, it does look nicer in person. I did all the quilting by hand and a few different designs in various blocks.

My favorite blocks are the cordorouys! I love the feel of them. Actually the whole quilt is very soft.

I was stumped on what to do for the backing and binding so here’s what I came up with. I’m such a girl that it’s really hard for me to get excited about anything other than cute, flowery, pink, girly things but that doesn’t make the whole world go ’round, does it? For the binding, I did sew it to the back and used a basic zig zag stitch to finish it off. The picture I took of that didn’t come out so well so I didn’t bother posting it.

August 28, 2008

I miss these little guys! Way back in the spring, we had a mama dove build a nest up on the header beam of our patio and it’s been used three different times to raise little birdy families. I’ve been such an absolute nut about it…..these are just two of the countless photos I’ve taken of them. The mama (or I guess it could be the daddy) sits in the nest for about three weeks solid. I don’t really know how long it takes for the eggs to hatch but I know it’s almost a month before we get to see the babies. Once we see them though, it’s about a week or so and then they are gone. Aren’t they cute? I would climb up on the counter and snap pictures through my kitchen window so I wouldn’t disturb them. The family before this one I actually got to see the babies after they left the nest. I wish I had gotten to see them actually fly away for the first time but I didn’t. When I did see them, they were hanging around on the swingset. I was amazed at how big they were! I was determined to see these little guys make their first flight but that didn’t happen either. I had been out running errands and when I got home and checked on them, the nest was empty. I was so disappointed!!

About a week before these little guys flew away, I noticed this ritual they did with their Mom every day. All three of them would put their beaks together and sway in a circle. It was the oddest thing I’ve ever seen! They did this several times a day. And yes, I spent lots and lots of time just watching these guys which I know makes me sound pathetic but I couldn’t help myself. My family was beginning to get a little worried I think. I wonder if all mama birds do this with their babies or if it was just this one and if it has any meaning?

I miss this little birdy family. I looked forward to getting up and seeing them every morning. I’ve had several doves sit up in that nest in the last few weeks but so far none of them have stayed. I was hoping to get one more little family up there before fall but I don’t think that’s going to happen. Maybe next spring 🙂